Saddened and angered, and need to do more

I am so saddened and angered about the Parkland shooting. I work with a colleague who lost his child. I have been useless in the last week processing this.

I’ve sat by year after year as these shootings have happened and done nothing. I need to do my part, I need to speak up, I need to take whatever action I can.

I will demand to my representatives that we try to address these shootings. And I am open to trials on many fronts. Reasonable restrictions on assault rifles, let’s try it. More mental health support, let’s try it. Hardening schools, let’s try it. I have my own beliefs about which of these will be most effective (restrictions on assault rifles), but I support any steps that address the shootings, and preferably a basket of steps. Let’s try them all, measure how they do, and try again. The exact steps are not important — it is the repeated trying that matters.

I will demand to my local and state representatives that we try things locally. Don’t try to “boil the ocean” at the Federal level. Start at the state and local level. That is how the country made progress on LGBT rights.

I will support candidates who refuse to take gun lobby money. I want candidates who work on behalf of citizens, not the gun lobby.

We each need to decide how we are going to react to these shootings. I will speak my feelings, and I will demand that we try policies to address the problem, and that we repeatedly try.